


Headlines

by Nicxan



Category: System Shock (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Non-Binary Hacker, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24222241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicxan/pseuds/Nicxan
Summary: The Hacker's really upset after a tabloid focused on something trivial to him.He gets a not-so-trivial letter from an old acquaintance in response to it.
Kudos: 8
Collections: Banned Banned Together Bingo 2020, Banned Together Bingo 2020





	Headlines

**Author's Note:**

> Another one for [Banned Together Bingo](https://bannedtogetherbingo2020.tumblr.com/)!  
> The prompt for this one was 'normalize trans lives'. 
> 
> My Hacker is nonbinary and he uses he/him pronouns this has honestly been my headcanon since forever I will not take criticism at this time.  
> I'm just glad I finally got to write it out somehow!
> 
> (I can't believe I had to make this T because my Hacker is such a potty mouth.)

Humanity hadn’t made a lot of changes in the past twenty years. Sure, they rebelled against megacorporations. But for that one massive change, so much stayed the same.   
  
Separated sectors. The divide between the rich and the poor. Companies of all kinds vying for control in every way. All of that, along with the useless UNN, left Hacker wondering why the hell he had even bothered trying to save humanity’s collective skin. Of course it was the right thing to do, but he was going to be fucking bitter about things.   
  
When the only interview he had given since the incident at Citadel Station focused on his damned gender identity more than anything, it frustrated him. It’s like everyone missed the damn point of why he was speaking out. His gender identity wasn’t the fucking important thing -- his warning about the remaining megacorporations and their shady practices went totally ignored.   
  
_‘Fucking figures.’_   
  
The Hacker sighed dejectedly and closed out of the article. Why had he even bothered reading it? He knew it was going to be twisted and the real issues were going to be buried under shit that didn’t matter. Really, people were great at performance activism. He could imagine the headlines now: “Most Famous PERSON In The World: Non-Binary!” “Famed Hacker Neither Man Nor Woman!”   
  
Fuck, he didn’t even want to think about it.   
  
When an e-mail came in, the Hacker rolled his eyes. He debated just deleting it. After all, he had work to do, and the last thing he wanted to do was send another company a very polite ‘fuck you’ letter. After this fiasco, he wasn’t going to be doing another interview. He sighed and went over to his inbox. His finger hovered over the ‘delete’ icon.   
  
He froze once he saw the name.   
  
“Holy shit.” The Hacker barked out a laugh. While the sender’s e-mail was a bunch of gibberish, he recognized the name in the subject line. “You’re fucking kidding me. How the fuck have you been, Avalanche?”   
  
He hadn’t helped out up-and-coming hackers in a damn long time; the name itself was a blast from the pre-Citadel past. It wasn’t a very long partnership. All the Hacker did was just give this newbie some tips, clapped them on the back, and told them ‘good luck.’ It was all he had wanted to risk doing.   
  
The fact that Avalanche had managed to find an e-mail of his so long after everything was a testament to how much they must have learned. _‘All right, I should at least read it.’_   
  
The Hacker chuckled to himself as he opened the e-mail. The more he skimmed, the more his heart sank and leapt all at once -- then, he went back to the beginning of the message to read it in earnest.   
  
_Hey, not-so-slick Hacker :P_ _  
_ _  
_ _I read your interview from a few weeks ago. I appreciate what you were trying to say, sorry the magazine cut you short on that one. Tabloids aren’t really reliable with that sort of thing. Can’t blame you for trying, though. Things have been pretty rocky on this end._ _  
_ _  
_ _Where I live, Tri-Op is pretty strong. It’s fighting back against the UNN and it’s really screwing up a lot of things. I’m trying to fight back where I can, but they’re getting sneakier and sneakier. I’ve been pretty depressed lately. Almost seems hopeless. But then I remember what you’ve accomplished and I keep going._ _  
_ _  
_ _I wanted to thank you for that. And the whole gender thing. I’ve been struggling with my identity a lot, too, and it’s been hard because a lot of people seem to think it’s stupid or bullshit. Having you come out like that really helps. It’s cool to say that I’m non-binary now. It’s the little things that make the big fights easier, you know?_ _  
_ _  
_ _I still have a lot of stuff to work through, both with Tri-Op and with the being non-binary thing, but you really have made it a lot easier. A lot of people are talking about it, and a lot of them are being pretty good about it. You’ve got a lot of people behind you. I figured you’d want to know that too._ _  
_ _  
_ _You don’t have to respond if you don’t want to. But I wanted to thank you for helping me out. Again._ _  
_ _  
_ _Stay cool. :P_ _  
_ _\- Avalanche_ _  
_   
Well, fuck. How could the Hacker stay mad now? He’d have to send Avalanche a stern letter back for interrupting his seething at humanity. The mere thought made him laugh again.   
  
He couldn’t deny that he had a smile on his face that night while working, though. Then he would be spewing as much bullshit as the tabloids were and he’d never be okay with that.   
  
At least he was helping the fights -- whether it be a personal one or a larger-scale one.   
  
The Hacker found comfort in that.


End file.
